It began with a couple of Facebook posts and developed into a program to help emergency service workers who have to leave their families on Christmas Day to work get some holiday cheer.

This Christmas marks the second year for the Emergency Workers Appreciation Meal program, when program organizer Erin Hern and other volunteers deliver Christmas dinner to firefighters, police officers and dispatchers at the Vicksburg Warren 911 Communications Center

“I don’t do it for me,” Hern said. “I have friends and I know other people in the community and I know police and firefighters’ wives.

“It’s really a community effort. It’s not a church program; it’s a group of people who are willing to do something good for people who aren’t able to spend time with their families. Some people who help, when they cook dinner for their families, they’ll cook an extra ham to bring to us.”

Hern said the idea for the program came from her best friend, who lives in Starkville, who developed a similar program to thank firefighters for saving her child. The child, she said, was choking and her friend called 911. Firefighters and paramedics from a nearby station responded and were able to save the child.

“She wanted to show her appreciation and thought about serving them a meal on Christmas Day, because they had to be away from their families,” she said. “That was in 2012.”

Hern said she kept up with her friend’s program, and decided to begin her own program last year.

“I thought, ‘Why not? After we eat Christmas dinner, we’re all just sitting around. Why not use that time to help someone else, like provide meals for emergency workers on Christmas.’”

A marketing coordinator for Hayes Marketing, a former member of the Riverfest board and a former event chairman, “I had a lot of contacts in law enforcement, I knew the right people to call,” she said. “I had a very positive reception. We included the E911 Center as well and emergency management. I told emergency management I knew they only came out if it was a serious event, but they were welcome to participate if they were out.”

Also included were the doctors, nurses and aides working Christmas Day at Merit Health River Region Medical Center’ emergency room.

The call for volunteers to help with deliveries and donations went out on Facebook, she said, and produced a very strong response. More than 60 people helped with the inaugural program last year. Two anonymous donors provided money that first year, and donations this year totaled $200.

The biggest chore, Hearn said, is having someone keep the “spread sheet,” the list of food that has been prepared and where deliveries need to be made.

Deliveries run from 5 to 6 p.m. Christmas Day, when the group meets at a central location to load up and deliver. Hern’s 8-year-old daughter joins her and helps with deliveries.

“We provide a full meal,” she said, “meat, bread, sides and dessert.”

The food for the firefighters is delivered to the Central Fire Station, and firefighters from the other stations go there to get their food.

“Because there are so many fire stations in the city, we felt it was best to take the food to a central location and let the firefighters go there for their food. It’s not an interruption for them,” she said.

She said the emergency room staff shares its meal with the nurses who are on duty at the various wards at River Region.

Hern’s Christmas is spent at home and at her parents.

“My husband works shift work at IP, and a lot times he’s either at work on Christmas or sleeping,” she said. “We go to my parents’ house for dinner and the children bring a toy they got for Christmas and play with. After we eat, we sit around and spend time together until it’s time to make the deliveries.

“We all meet at the same location, and the runners (who handle deliveries) take the food to the departments,” she said, adding, “we learned a little bit from last year.”